Two British men removed from train to Volgograd

Two British men were removed from a train traveling to the Russian city of Volgograd for the World Cup, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The first British man got into an altercation with a police officer onboard the train and was detained, the source said. The second man hurt his hand and has been discharged from hospital, according to the source.

England’s soccer team faced Tunisia in their opening World Cup match in Volgograd, southern Russia, on Monday.

The British Embassy in Moscow said it did not have information about the incidents.

Russian authorities have pledged to hold a safe and secure soccer World Cup, which is taking place in 11 cities and runs until July 15.

A post on Russian social media, purporting to be a leaked internal railway operator’s report about the incidents, said that the injured fan had broken a window onboard the train and received lacerations to his hand.

The post said the other fan seized the service pistol of a police officer who was on the train, the weapon was removed from the fan, and he was detained.

The source with knowledge of the matter confirmed the outline of the incident described in the post but did not go into specific details.

A duty police officer in the location where the train was stopped en route to Volgograd said he heard such an incident took place but did not have details.

It was not immediately clear when the incidents on the train took place.